~ assembling heaven, one recipe at a time

Apple Pecan Cake

Who does not know how to bake a cake? Who wants to be a Cake Goddess (or God, as if such a thing could happen)? Raise your hands. (Or like this post.) Ok. Good. Now that the intention has been declared, lets set about doing it. All you need to do is bake this scrumptious Apple Pecan cake. Seriously, it’s that simple. 1. Read post. 2. Follow recipe. 3. Become Cake Goddess (or God, if we continue to grant the benefit of doubt.)

You don’t believe me? Well, here’s something to consider – this cake is known to make people remark with increasing degrees of incredulity – “This is home-made?” and “YOU made this?” and then “Liar!!”. This cake has caused a woman (not me) to lie to her husband and sneakily eat his share. This cake has also caused the same aforementioned woman to fight with her colleague and refuse to share her lunch with uncharacteristic selfishness. And this cake always causes one woman (me) to keep an eye on her husband, lest he stealthily grab an extra piece when she isn’t looking. This cake, my dear people, has the potential to cause a riot, if only enough people knew about it. And baking it is a cinch. But no one need know that. Except us Cake Goddesses.

What I make is a slightly modified version of a recipe I found in the magazine Chatelaine. It is a great cake to have with coffee. Or as a dessert. I’ve even had it for breakfast (gasp!). And each time, I have felt satisfied to the core. It has just the right balance of sweetness and nuttiness and apples must be good for breakfast, right? Right??

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

‘Nuff said. Time for step 2.

Prep time : 30 minsBaking time : 45 minsServes : Well, that really depends on how selfless you are and how large a slice you cut, but about 8.

Whisk flours with cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk egg with granulated sugar and 2/3 cup oil in a large bowl.

Stir flour mixture into egg mixture one spoon at a time. Stir in chopped pecans and grated apples.

Lightly spray the cake pan with oil and line with parchment. Scrape the cake batter into the prepared pan and smooth its top. Resist the urge to lick the spatula.

Arrange overlapping apple slices around edge of cake. You may pop unevenly cut slices into your mouth. Arrange pecan halves in one layer in centre.

Make glaze by stirring brown sugar with 2 tsp olive oil and 2 tsp water in a small bowl. Microwave until sugar melts, 30 sec. Brush apples and pecans with half of the glaze, keeping the rest for later.

Bake in centre of oven until a tester inserted into centre of the cake comes out clean, about 45 min. Transfer to a rack. Brush the top of warm cake with remaining sugar glaze.

Run a knife between the pan and the outer edge of the cake. Gently remove cake from pan. Let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Serve, if any still remains on the cooling rack. Become Cake Goddess.

MY NOTES :

If pecans aren’t at hand, use walnuts. Both have similar, if not the same nutty flavours.

The parchment can be done away with, if you are using a disposable foil cake pan. If not, its better to use the parchment, as the cake should not be flipped upside down to remove from the pan, so as to avoid spoiling the decoration on top.